The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for measuring the geometry of the hollow mold compartment of continuous casting molds.
The geometry of a hollow mold compartment of a continuous casting mold, especially its inner width, presently is measured upon a leveling plate with the aid of known measurement instruments, such as micrometers, dial gauges, bow spacers and so forth. Such manual measurement operations require a great deal of time in order to merely obtain the exact size of the inner width of a mold at a few points distributed over the length of the mold. Yet such individual measurements give very little information regarding the exact geometric configuration of the hollow mold compartment. If the walls have been warped or slightly twisted about the lengthwise axis of the hollow mold compartment, something which especially happens in the case of tubular molds, then such measurements of the inner width of the mold with the aforementioned instruments are not very conclusive for the determination of the geometry of the hollow mold compartment, and hence, the quality of the mold.
Additionally difficulties arise during the measurement and evaluation of arc-shaped hollow mold compartments. Such mold compartments possess two oppositely situated parallel or converging planar walls and two oppositely situated parallel or converging arcuate walls. Even small dimensional deviations of the prescribed inner width together with warping and twisting of the mold walls from the ideal geometry of the hollow mold compartment can appreciably impair the quality of the strand produced therewith and can lead to metal breakouts.